14 DAY TRIAL // Whenever someone criticizes Google for not thinking big anymore, the counterargument is self-driving cars and, to a degree, Google Glass.
However, self-driving cars, while great for Google's image, don't do much for its revenue, and won't until the technology is ready to be put to use.
That's still several years away – not so many if you believe Google, but at the pace the auto industry works, it could be decades.
Which is why it's nice that, for the first time in a very long while, there is a car maker who is not afraid of risk, who thinks outside the conventions, and that car maker is Tesla.
It's no surprise then that it is Tesla who would put a self-driving system in their cars. Talking to Bloomberg, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, said that he's open to the idea of an "autopilot" for cars, a term he prefers to "self-driving."
He argues that, since autopilot systems have been a great addition to planes, they should be available in cars.
As far as Google's system is concerned, he doesn't believe it's quite ready for mass market. For one, it's very expensive, and second, it's quite big.
Google's self-driving cars are full of large sensors which couldn't be fitted to an actual production car. Part of this is because Google uses Lidar, laser radar, to map the world around the car. Lidar is expensive though.
Musk believes that in a production car optical sensors, i.e. cameras, will have to do. Google's system relies on camera too, but not exclusively.
That said, he later clarified on Twitter that there are no actual talks with Google, and he just thinks it's a good idea and a good feature to have on a car. Don't expect any autopiloted Teslas anytime soon, especially since the car maker is trying to drive prices down.